About Beauty Product Diversion
May 1, 2006 by Christina Jones
Filed under Beauty, Readers Questions
A couple of weeks ago, when I was talking about Paul Mitchell’s newest line, Gail asked me a question about salon products that are available in grocery and drug stores:
Is it true that Paul Mitchell products (and other ‘designer’ hair products) sold at grocery stores and big discount stores are NOT the same formulas that sell in beauty salons? Or is that all hype?
This is called diversion, and is a major problem within the industry. Most of the time the product is authentic, but it is occasionally is counterfeit (flea markets, mostly). The most likely problem with these products is that they are old, but the effects of that are negligible. Really, from an ethics standpoint, you shouldn’t buy these products from anywhere but a licensed salon – by supporting diversion you are undercutting your favorite salon, and they need your business to survive. Wouldn’t you hate life if all you had to choose from were large chain salons? I know I would. There is a huge black market on salon products that you wouldn’t believe, and when you see these in your grocery stores, you can also be fairly sure that the store owner is using shady methods to get these products, which makes me wonder where else they are cutting corners or getting stuff under the radar (meat? eww). You will most likely not save much money if any, and the manufacturer will not stand behind the products when purchased that way either. There is a short, but sweet, article on diversion here, if you want to read a lttle more about it.
Great question, Gail. BTW, I do love your questions, please feel free to email them to me at christina@b5media.com, or leave them in the comments. I will do the best I can to get them answered for you!
I thought that some of the salon lines developed a “drug store” line as a separate part of their business. Sort of like Armani has his haute couture line, his upscale line, and then his Armani Exchange line. All appealing to different demographics.
There are a few product lines that do that, but they do not promote themselves as doing that. I know OPI makes a regular retail line, as well as some other nail products. The big hair care lines I have no knowledge of doing that, but would be an interesting thing to research! As for Armani – if he didn’t have a lower price point, he wouldn’t sell a thing, I don’t think. The competition in product-land is HUGE.
Christina, thanks for answering my question and for the link to that article on diversion. I didn’t realize there was a name for it.
I don’t have a lot of extra time to post anymore, but I’m still out here reading. I’ll send my 2 cents worth when i can.
Gail
Thanks Gail – I miss you when you aren’t around! Hope you are doing well, and take good care of yourself!
We enjoyed your post about diversion. Actually, you’d be amazed by how common it is AND by how much the professional salon companies actually encourage it! Just look at all the drug stores with professional salon sections now. ALL that product is not “illegally” diverted. In fact, if the products have a UPC code on them, then you know its not made just for the salon business!
Also, remember that many mass market companies own the smaller salon companies. For example, monster company P&G own Graham Webb and other salon brands.
Thanks for your interesting posts, if you want to learn more about the science of cosmetic products check us out at Thebeautybrains@blogspot.com.